


Two Front Teeth

by Stratagem



Series: Lion Cub [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, adventures in child rearing, altean-human kids are SO confusing, little humans lose their teeth and that's disturbing to alteans, tooth fairy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 20:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: Remember that time that Shiro forgot to tell Allura that human children lose their baby teeth, and that might happen with an Altean-Human child, too? Yeah, good times.





	1. Two Front Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I've been writing too much angst lately, so here's something funny to lift the mood. It's a two-parter! Emi is six in this one.

Huh. Weeeeiiiird.

Emi bared her teeth in the bathroom mirror and pressed her forefinger against her bottom front tooth, pushing it backwards. Then forwards. And backwards. Wriggle, wriggle.

She closed her mouth and played with the tooth with her tongue, wiggling it back and forth. It had felt sort of weird yesterday, but today it was definitely loose. Maybe it had come loose when she smacked her face on the couch arm the other day while playing The-Floor-Is-Lava with Pidge and Lance. They had all made a pact not to tell her mum and dad because there would be yelling. So much yelling.

The-Floor-Is-Lava had been banned since long before Emi was born. Apparently Pidge had broken her arm while doing some kind of flying leap off the couch, so they weren't supposed to play it anymore. It was more fun since it was forbidden.

Emi had told her parents that she had run into a wall while playing with her hoverskates, so now she wasn't allowed to use those for a week, but no one got in trouble for the game. Success.

Still… Emi opened her mouth again and pushed against the tooth. Her dad was going to freak out. Mum was much better about dealing with injuries; she would slap a kiss and a bandaid on it, and then it was good to go. Dad, however, was more likely to fuss over her.

Maybe it would stop being all wiggly if she just stopped messing it. Sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth, she headed out of the bathroom and into the hallway. She was supposed to be reading right now, so she went back to the little observatory room near the bridge.

When she reached the observatory, she flopped on the pallet she had created and opened _Stuart Little_. She liked reading this one to her mice buddies, but they were currently elsewhere. As she started to read, she absently flicked the loose tooth back and forth with her tongue, forgetting about her resolution to not mess with it anymore.

Halfway through a chapter, she reached over and picked up an apple they had gotten from Earth during their last visit. She bit down into it and immediately pulled it away with a yelp. Her eyes widened as she brought the apple right up to her face.

There, in the bite mark she had left behind, was her tooth.

"MUUUUUMMMM!"

* * *

"What do you mean, it came out in an apple?" Allura asked. She and Coran were standing in the bridge, and Coran was holding Emi's tooth up to the light.

Her _tooth_.

Allura knelt down in front of Emi. "Open your mouth again."

Emi made a face. "You saw it already!" She shut her mouth and covered it with both hands.

"Emi Shirogane of Altea…" Lance's mother had told her that using full names made most children obey, and Emi was no different. She sighed and opened her mouth again.

Allura sighed and pressed her fingers against her temples. There was a gaping hole in her daughter's mouth. "I don't understand how this happened."

"It's a bit of a mystery," Coran said, leaning down to peer at the hole as well. "Does it hurt?"

"No," Emi said, shaking her head, "But it does feel really, really, really, really, really, really—" Allura lifted her eyebrows and her nostrils flared, and Emi decided to stop before she pushed her luck. "—really weird."

"At least we still have the tooth," Coran said, "It's so tiny, look at it. Like a pearly Quindac scale."

Allura would rather not look at the tooth again. She would much prefer if it was back in her daughter's head, where it belonged.

"Can you put it back?" Emi said, bouncing from foot to foot. She darted over and tugged on Coran's shirt insistently. "Can you?"

"I think so," he said, and then grinned down at her, "Or we could replace it with something shiny!"

"Like a diamond?"

"Or balmera crystal. Or pure scaultrite."

"Oooo…"

"Please focus," Allura said, pressing her hands together. "I think we should ask Shiro."

"Nooo," Emi said. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head back and forth, making her black and white hair fly about. "He's gonna freak out. And he's busy, you shouldn't call him."

"He needs to know," Allura said, putting her hand on Emi's head. With her other hand, she brought up a holo viewscreen, contacting Shiro's wrist com unit. Emi slunk over to hide behind Coran, who stood with his hands on his hips, obligingly acting as her shield.

Shiro appeared a moment later, his white forelock plastered to his forehead with sweat. He and the other paladins were helping the people of the nearest planet locate some ancient artifact or other that was apparently in the middle of rainforest. "Hello, princess," he said, giving his wife a tired smile, then raising an eyebrow at her, "Something wrong? You look upset."

"Is that Allura?" Lance's voice exclaimed, and then he appeared in view. It looked like he was faring a little better in the weather than Shiro, but he was still dripping with sweat. "Get us out of this green purgatory!"

"Consider this to be a mission of good will," Allura said, and Shiro pushed Lance out of the viewscreen. "Shiro, I don't want to alarm you, but one of Emi's teeth fell out." _She_ was alarmed. She was extremely alarmed.

"Huh?" He looked surprised and then grinned. "Oh, so she lost her first tooth? Good for her!"

"Emi lost a tooth?" Hunk said off-screen. "Tooth Fairy time!"

"How much is an Altean tooth worth, do you think?" Lance asked.

Allura's cheek twitched. Why were they talking about fairies and how much teeth cost? Were they discussing replacement teeth? "Shiro, she has a hole in her mouth. I don't believe you're taking this seriously enough." Which sounded so odd, since normally he was quite serious.

Shiro immediately stopped smiling. "Allura-"

"It's not that bad," Emi said, appearing out from behind Coran, "What's a tooth fairy?"

"It's a fairy that takes teeth and leaves you money," Lance said, scrunching in beside Shiro again. He waved enthusiastically at Emi. "Hey, Squeaker!"

"Hi!" she said, waving back.

Beside her, Coran looked mildly horrified. "There's a tiny flying tooth bandit who exchanges teeth for monetary compensation?"

Shiro pushed Lance back out of the frame and seemed to take a few steps away from the others. Allura, Emi, and Coran could still hear the muffled celebration over lost teeth and teeth fairies in the background.

"I'm sorry," Shiro said, an apologetic half-smile on his face, "I should've told you, but I guess it just slipped my mind. I didn't know that Alteans don't lose their teeth. All human children start losing teeth when they're around five or six."

"I'm going to lose all my teeth?!" Emi shrieked, smacking her hands to her cheeks. "How will I eat? I'm going to starve, I don't like food goo!"

"No, no, no, sweetheart, it's all right," Shiro said quickly, "You're just growing new teeth, so when those new teeth come in, they push out the old ones. You'll lose all your baby teeth over the next few years, but you'll get new big adult ones."

Allura and Coran looked at each other, then at Emi, and then stared at Shiro.

"How do we stop that?" Allura said, reaching out and hugging Emi to her.

Coran put his hand to his chest. "That's the most horrific thing…"

"Can my new teeth be sharp?" Emi asked, her hands on her mum's arms, eyes bright with anticipation.

"What if her new teeth don't grow in?" Coran asked, waving his arms about, "What's wrong with her precious teeny teeth?!"

Allura frowned. "Why don't her little teeth just grow into bigger ones?" That's how Altean teeth worked, and that seemed so much more gentle and made more sense than losing all your teeth.

"Mum, it's okay, I don't mind as long as I get fangs."

Coran threw his hands in the air. "What if they never stop growing? What if her teeth grow out of her head? "

Now Emi's eyes grew huge. "Can that happen?! I don't want giant teeth! Daddy!"

* * *

Down on the planet, Shiro sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to interrupt the three Alteans as they continued to have a meltdown over Emi's missing tooth.

Meanwhile, the team had completely stopped working in order to have a conversation about tooth fairies and how they were going to pull off Super Space Tooth Fairy Ninja, as Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were calling it.

Keith stood behind Shiro, listening in to the conversations but happy to stay out of both of them. This was definitely not his thing.

Shiro leaned against a tree and tried to talk his family down from their minor crisis. "Allura, it's going to be all right, I'm sorry I didn't mention—Coran, don't make it worst—Emi, honey, please calm down—Coran! Stop, she's not going to have beaver teeth!"

Finally he just looked up at the sky as if asking it to grant him more patience.


	2. Super Space Tooth Fairy Ninja

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, the tooth fairy had to visit somehow…have some paladins being absolute dorks.

"How long do we have to wait until she's really asleep?"

"Maybe thirty minutes after Allura finishes reading her stories? At least she sleeps pretty hard once she actually nods off."

"I know I said this earlier, but can't we just use the mice for this? Allura could ask them, and Emi's used to—"

"No!" Pidge and Lance were in unison as they cut Shiro off, rejecting his idea yet again.

"All right, all right…"

With most of the inhabitants of the Castle of Lions hanging out in the main rec room, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were huddled around the homemade coffee table. They were busy solidifying their plans for Project Space Tooth Fairy Ninja. All of the paladins were exhausted after a day of trekking through the rainforest, but being tired wasn't any excuse when it came for the night's essential escapade.

"We've been planning this all day," Lance said, tossing a frown at Shiro.

"No, you, Pidge, and Hunk have been planning it all day," Keith put in. He and Coran were sitting at a table to the side, both of them half-focused on the game between them and half-listening to the conversation.

"I'm on the outskirts of this plan, just making that clear," Hunk said.

"You guys were looking for special mystical thingy, and this needed to be figured out," Lance said, "We all had jobs."

"I think we were all supposed to be looking for the artifact," Shiro said, "Since the Tooth Fairy shouldn't be as difficult as you're making it."

"It's more intricate than you think, and I was the one who found the thing anyways."

"Yeah, 'cause you sat on it," Keith teased, not looking up to see the massive eye roll that Lance gave. "Emi is Shiro and Allura's kid, they should decide how they do the Tooth Fairy stuff."

"No, they'll do something boring," Pidge said before grinning at Shiro. "No offense." Shiro half-smiled, more amused than irritated.

Lance seemed to consider Keith's comment for one second and then shook his head. "You can't make the mice do it, that's cheating."

"Yeah, this is an Earth tradition that's been carried down through the ages by put-upon parents everywhere," Pidge said. She pointed at Shiro. "You can't get out of it that easily."

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck and gave a hesitant smile. "Personally, I think it'd be okay to use the mice." Pidge and Lance both turned on him, their eyes narrowed, and he held up his hands. "Or not."

Shiro sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I'm not trying to get out of it." Though he wouldn't mind if someone else volunteered. "I'm just saying that it would be better—"

"Nope, no way," Lance said, slashing a hand through the air as if slicing through Shiro's sentence.

"This fairy of the teeth is very much like that jolly red-dressed fellow that we pretend exists during your December month, isn't it?" Coran asked. He and Allura had been given the general gist of the tooth fairy idea, and they thought it was weird but intriguing.

"Yep, just like Space Santa," Hunk said.

"You humans seem to lie to your children often," Coran said, twisting his mustache. "Then again, back on Altea, we once had a day long festival where all the little ones looked for a snipperin bird." He laughed and shook his head. "There never was a snipperin bird, but it was certainly nice to rest while they hunted for it. Allura's father orchestrated it, he thought it was great fun."

"Oh, don't remind me about that bird," Allura said as she stepped into the rec room. "I spent that whole day looking for that silly creature." Allura was already in her pajamas, which consisted of silky PJ pants and one of Shiro's old shirts plus a pair of slippers. Heading over to the couch, she sat down next to Shiro, who automatically pulled her closer.

"How many stories did you have to read?" he asked, rubbing his thumb up and down her arm.

Allura laughed and leaned back against him, fitting perfectly against his side. "Three, and then we had to make up a story together. I think she's still awake, but she was quite sleepy when I left."

"So we can execute Project Space Tooth Fairy Ninja?" Lance asked, perking up.

"What all does this project entail, exactly?" Allura said, looking at the messy coffee table. It was covered in plans, drawings, and craft supplies.

"You or Shiro are going to go change into all black and then put these on," Pidge said, gesturing to the wings that Hunk was working on, "Then you'll sneak into Emi's room and put this under her pillow." She held up a bag that clinked. "And then you'll leave little fairy footprints all over the place."

"And how are we going to do that?" Allura asked as she looked up at Shiro. Long-suffering. That would be a good way to describe him right now.

"I'm printing a stamp," Pidge said, "It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"This sounds…complicated," Allura said.

Shiro laughed. "Oh, that is an understatement."

"I'm going to put this out there. How about we don't lie to her?" Keith said. He sat back as Coran knocked over one of his pieces and pulled it back to his side, claiming it with a victory pose. "Just an idea."

"Don't be a buzzkill, it's just for fun, and she'll like it," Lance said, "None of us were scarred when we found out that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny weren't real."

"It's still lying."

"Dude, you just told her yesterday that if she didn't do her schoolwork, you'd let Red eat her."

"That's not a lie, I would definitely let Red do that."

"Keith!" Hunk said, staring.

Keith threw his hands into the air. "It's not like Red would actually hurt her!"

"Anyways," Shiro broke in before the argument could escalate or Keith said something else ridiculous. He rubbed his forehead. "What's with the wings? I'm still trying to figure that out. The whole point is for her to not wake up, so why would we have to wear a pair of wings? She shouldn't see them."

"Just in case," Lance said.

"And they look cool, if I do say so myself," Hunk said, lifting the wings. They were small and curved, like the wings of a bee from Earth. Hunk had embellished them with shimmery bits and some of the glitter that they kept locked in a supply closet so Lance and Pidge couldn't get to it. They only used glitter for evil.

Allura looked at her exhausted husband and imagined wrestling him into those cute dainty wings. She cracked a smile, one that didn't go unnoticed.

"I know that smile," Shiro said, "Stop thinking about me wearing those wings. I don't think they'll fit, so you get to wear them."

"No, no, this is an Earth custom, and as such, I believe you should have the honor of fulfilling it," she said, scooting to the side but he slid with her.

"Oh no, I think this is a good time for us to bond over shared traditions as a family," he said, grinning. Shiro held his hand out to Hunk. "Let me see them, I'll help Allura put them on."

Allura gave Hunk a wide, beaming smile. "Hunk, if you'll hand them to me, I'll assist Shiro with his wings."

Hunk looked back and forth from Shiro to Allura, panic on his face. "This is a trap."

"Abort, abort," Pidge said, tugging on Hunk's arm.

"Someone has to be the Space Tooth Fairy Ninja," Lance said, making a face, "And it has to be one of you guys. You're the parents, so it's your responsibility."

Allura and Shiro glanced at each other before turning on Lance with matching dangerous grins.

"Is that so, Lance…"

"Come here, buddy…"

And that was how Lance officially became the Space Tooth Fairy Ninja.

Emi was ecstatic at breakfast the next morning, proudly showing everyone the couple coins she had gotten in exchange for her tooth.

"I hope they all come out this week," she announced, "I can't wait!"

"Next time, can we use the mice?" Lance asked Shiro in a whisper, picking off a stubborn fleck of glitter that was still stuck to his hand.

Shiro sipped his coffee. "But Lance, that's cheating."

"Man…"


End file.
